A YORK GP surgery which was told it must improve has decided to shed some patients.

Dalton Terrace Surgery in Holgate is shrinking their practice boundaries and removing all patients from their list who don't live in the Holgate or Acomb area.

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In a letter to affected patients practice manager Fran Raper said: "Due to the growing population of Holgate and Acomb, we have found it necessary to consolidate our patient population and restrict our services to Holgate, Acomb and its local vicinity. 

"This decision has not been made lightly and we understand that it may cause inconvenience to you and others who have been part of our practice community."

"As you are out of area we therefore ask that you register with a general practice that is closer to your home."

The surgery – which serves a patient population of about 9,500 – delivers regulated activities, including diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services, family planning, treatment of disease, disorder or injury and surgical procedures.

A patient who lives in Clifton and doesn't want to be named, said: "I originally registered with them when I lived in Holgate and stayed on after I moved as I'd found them really helpful and supportive. 

"This decision is really going to affect me as I was in the middle of some investigations for asthma and it's taken me a long time to get booked in for spirometry, and now I'll likely have to go on a waiting list at a new surgery for this. I'm also on a waiting list for the primary mental health care workers at the practice and will have to enquire again and get referred to a new practice. Additionally, I've built up supportive professional relationships and a lot of faith in the practice after having a bad experience at my previous GP surgery, so now I have to start that process over again somewhere new. 

"I worry particularly about older, more vulnerable patients with complex health conditions who may struggle with the administration of moving practices and then reach out for help just to find they're not registered. It's also going to have a knock on effect on other practices in York with lots of patients having to seek care at other already over-subscribed practices.

"I'm really sympathetic to the reasons they're doing this - I recently lost my job within a GP practice due to the poor state of GP contracts and funding at the moment - and so I empathise and don't wish to demonise them, but still feel really let down by this decision. To me, it really indicates that the government need to take urgent action on improving the GP contract so that people can access care and aren't let down by the system."

As The Press reported earlier this year, inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found safety breaches at Dalton Terrace Surgery and gave it the overall rating of 'requires improvement'.

Inspectors visited the Holgate surgery during an announced visit from Monday, November 6, to Friday, November 10, 2023.

The practice manager said at the time the surgery is working to address the points raised by inspectors.